Song of a Tortured Heart
by Random Irken Derp
Summary: A death, a betrayal and a great evil inside. How much torture can one girl suffer? Can she right the wrongs of her past and find light at the end of the tunnel or does it lead to infinite darkness in her fragile mind... CanonxOC WARNING: this fanfiction contains violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Long Awaited Escape**

Cold, quiet, empty. This is all she knew. This was all she had known for a long time. She was not like any normal girl you know. She was a monster.

Trapped in here, doomed to an eternity of isolation. They used to do tests on her before she became far too dangerous. Now they simply kept her locked up. Like a pet. They knew if they killed her the evil would escape and the search would start all over again. They sent their lowest ranking employee to bring her food and spray her down with a hose. Apparently that counts as bathing. They thought it was a simple task keeping her contained, but they never knew the truth until it was too late.

"Alright, Aronson, your turn to feed number 47." his co-worker said.

"Damnit!" Joseph Aronson cursed. "Why do I always get the shit jobs?" he growled.

"Just shut up and do it. It's not as hard as it sounds and you know it."

And with that he set a tray filled with a cold piece of chicken, a biscuit, and a dirty plastic cup filled with tap water on Joseph's desk and left the room. Joseph sighed and took it with him as he walked out of his office and into an elevator just down the hall, going down to the containment level where the beasts were kept.

When the doors opened again he was greeted by a guard who, despite knowing that Joseph came here often and knew where the correct cell was, escorted him through the cold all white hallways to a large door. The guard pulled out a walkie-talkie and gave the order to open the door. A mix of static and incoherent words came back in response and several seconds later the door slowly opened. As the two stepped inside it closed behind them and another opened a few feet in front of them.

Though he had done this as almost a routine thing Joseph backed up and tried to swallow is fear. That girl gave him the creeps. He finally stepped inside with the guard staying close behind him. Joseph stopped a few feet in front of her making sure to be out of her reach and slowly pushed the tray to her being careful not to spill the drink.

She looked like any normal human girl. She had pale skin and blonde hair. Of course her treatment in this place had left her terribly thin and her shoulder length hair had turned to more of a brown color for years of improper hygiene. She sat on the cold floor curled up with her head in her knees and chains on her wrists and ankles. She had never looked up when people were around. She mostly just slept. And she never, EVER, opened her mouth to speak. You could barely hear her breathe. She was creepy but this wasn't the worst side of her.

Joseph slowly got up and turned away. Then he heard a small raspy voice.

"You don't know how powerful I am."

He froze in his tracks and turned around to see two bloodshot red eyes staring at him. The girl smiled a little, quickly grabbing her drink and taking a long sip. She dropped it on the ground next to the tray and slowly stood up on her shaking legs. She closed her eyes for a second in a deep focus before opening them and letting the smile on her face grow.

The guard pulled out his gun but the girl was not the slightest bit intimidated. Her chains flew off whipping both of them leaving bleeding slash marks across their faces. The guard fired several shots but in his daze all of them missed as the girl ran from the room. He tried to find his walkie-talkie but only saw the smashed pieces surrounding him and the unconscious Joseph. The girl built up a glowing black orb sparking with red electricity in her hand and threw it through the large metal door, leaving a gaping hole in it, which she gracefully hopped through.

She knew the cameras would see her soon but it didn't matter to her. She could sense the energy pouring out of the object that she slowly made her way down the hall and up to a flight of stairs that lead to the lab and testing level. She was half way up when red warning lights began to flash and a woman's voice echoed around her from the intercom. "This is an emergency alert. A D-class subject has escape the vault. All staff evacuate the facility immediately." she smirked at how remarkably calm the woman sounded as she picked up her pace on the stairs.

She burst through the small door which led into another white hallway. She saw the guards coming and smiled standing firmly in her place, waiting for them. Even from a distance she could hear their terrified whispers to each other. Only a few kept straight faces or a sadistic grin, showing they'd happy to blow her face off. She took several steps forward and jumped into the air floating above them.

"Hurry shoot her!" one of them shouted.

They fired but the girl dodged with only one grazing her arm. She landed in the middle of the group taking a knife from one of the guards back pockets.

"Shoot me." she muttered before stabbing the officer behind her in the shoulder.

She cut and slashed at everyone one of them occasionally dodging fire. Eventually she was standing quietly in a mess of blood and bodies, only a few were breathing. The girl gripped the blade tightly finally taking the time to examine it.

It had come off the only female guard in the group. It had a wood handle with a few pink flowers on the back. On the front were several letters printed in gold. Alice. The girl nodded to nothing in particular and stepped up to the locked door that led to one of the laboratories.

With another blast the metal door fell off it's hinges and onto the floor. Everyone who had been dumb enough to stay turned to her in shock and most hid behind tables or equipment. She disregarded them and slowly walked across the room to a small case. Inside was a glowing small red gem attached to a strip of black fabric. The girl jumped back firing a blast at the case. She avoided the broken glass that had fallen onto the ground with ease and took the gem in her hands.

"NO!" a scientist charged for her knowing that with that gem it was all over.

Taking a beaker he attempted to knock her out, even kill her. But suddenly he stopped. The girl glared at him as she choked him with her powers. He dropped the beaker which smashed on the ground and the man flew against the wall, blood spilling from him as he was impaled on a switch on the wall. The girl pulled him out and dropped him on the ground as the other employes screamed or threw up, one of them actually doing both.

She allowed the other staff members to escape as she found a medical kit and bandaged her bleeding arm while hiding from the guards in one the supply closets.

After killing several more guards the girl had made her way to the back emergency door. She took a second to take a deep breath and blew it open. She was blinded by the outside light and goosebumps covered her skin as the evening breeze blew past her. She stepped out into the golden light and made her way over the chain-link barb wire fence and out onto the rocks overlooking the sparkling blue ocean.

A man watched her, knowing she was planning something. He held his sniper steady and focused, keeping the pointer on her neck and his finger on the trigger. "Goodbye my dear." he chuckled in a low voice.

The girl knew someone was aiming for her. Why would they not be? She built up her power in her hands again as she walked slowly to the edge. Her toes gripped the edge of the rocks and taking one second to breathe she jumped, turning back and firing to the upper window as she fell. She heard a massive explosion as she fell into the ocean and formed a bubble around herself to protect her. The waves began to carry her towards the shore as she curled up in her bubble of energy tying the gem around her neck.

"I have it. Pack up and find me. I'll be waiting…" she thought sending her telepathic message to her partner.

…..

No one ever notices a stray animal, do they? They've never seen Ruby anyways.

She was a gray cat with a white face, paws, and tip of her tail. She had a bright pink nose and shiny blue eyes. Her ears twitched as her friend's message ran into her head. She didn't have the ability to respond but she knew what to do. Ruby may have been born in an alley but she certainly wasn't an alley cat, she had been staying in there only because it was an easy source of food. She was an intelligent cat so she didn't want to waste her time chasing rodents and other little things.

She dragged a small torn up and dirty purse out from behind the dumpster. Inside was a large book and various articles of clothing that she had sadly had to steal, but c'mon, who's going to sell clothes to a cat anyways? She pulled the strap over her head and slowly crept out with the bag dragging right behind her. She quickly saw a flatbed truck about to stop at a red light which seemed to be heading in the direction she needed to go. Just her luck.

Ruby ran holding the bag in her teeth and jumped into the truck just before the light turned green. She sighed and caught her breath while keeping an eye on where this truck was going. She'd be there in no time.

…..

The girl opened her eyes to find herself in shallow water looking up at the stars. She sat up and turned to see a small beach in front of a dense forest. Taking in every detail she told her partner, again telepathically. She knew she could find her. The girl made her way into the woods, shivering from the water that clung to her skin. She avoided as many things on the ground as she could but with her limited vision she soon felt stings of pain from stepping on sticks and other debris.

Later she sat down on a fallen log to rest her feet and listened to the wind rush past the leaves. She waited for a very long time until she heard something in a bush near by.

"Lexi?" she heard a voice whisper.

"You know not to call me that now Ruby." she responded with a small smirk.

Ruby poked her head out of the bush and beamed running to the girl. She jumped up in her lap and nuzzled her, purring. The girl, Lexi hugged her furry friend with a warm smile growing on her face.

"It's been so long Ruby. I missed you."

"Four years to be exact." Ruby corrected.

"And it could've been ten without you, you sneaky little rat." Lexi smirked rubbing Ruby's head.

"Well, you cast the spell to let me talk and understand you." the two friends exchanged a few more smiles before Ruby handed Lexi the bag.

"I got everything I could and our new house isn't too far from here." Ruby explained.

"What would I do without you?" Lexi smirked.

She pulled out the clothes, slipping them on. She now wore a short black dress with a light pink t-shirt underneath, long black and pink striped socks, red fingerless gloves and red ballet flats.

"You brought the spell book too, right?" Lexi asked.

Ruby nodded and pulled the thick book out. Lexi took it and examined it closely. The book's cover was a dull green and covered in dirt. The gold designs on the edges shined in the moonlight as Lexi ran her fingers over them. She opened it to a specific page that was bookmarked with a sticky note. Reading the spell over a few times she soon began to say the words out loud.

Her hair began to glow and it soon went past her back and continued to grow until it was almost to her ankles and her bangs covered her face. The glow faded as the edges of her hair turned a bright red. Ruby gave Lexi a hair tie and she pulled in back in a ponytail. Taking a black bow hair clip she pulled back the bangs covering her left eye and held it in place.

"So you have a new look now. What about your name?" Ruby asked.

Lexi looked back to the log she had been sitting on and where she had been was where the pocket knife now was.

"Alice." she muttered. "That name will do for now."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Wow. Just wow. How the hell does this happen? Less than a week and I already have so many people reading this. You guys rock! :D Thanks toJacinda Gaines, ToonLink13, pinkgamer, Invader-Rirk, lunarcatx, and my good friends violets117 and DarkDremora4 for the reviews, follows, and favorites. Special thanks to Dremora for the critique and I'm glad you like it so far. **

**Chapter 2: New Home. New Life.**

Dawn was coming nearer with every passing second and the sun's golden rays seemed to lift people out of bed, excluding the lazy ones of course. Children and adults came out of their homes, rubbing their eyes and running out with their briefcases and backpacks.

Some noticed an odd tired girl stumbling down the sidewalk with a gray and white cat following her. Many assumed that the girl was older than she really was and had been out late at a High School or College party the previous night and the cat was nothing more than a scared stray. Alice yawned again as she tried not to run into anything and catch anyone's eye.

"Man, escaping from government facilities then walking all night really takes a lot out of you." she mumbled, yawning again.

"We're almost there. No one notices anything in this town. We should be safe for at least a little while." Ruby explained. "You're acting awful casual about all this. Something bigger on your mind?"

"No, but freaking out and making a scene won't help anything. I have to learn to control myself." Alice sighed.

"I'm proud of you, Alice. You've grown so mature." Ruby smiled leaping up ahead of her, stopping in front of an old dusty house.

It was a small, one-story house made of red brick with a tan roof. The front door was old and wooden the glass screen down in front of it was shattered. The garage was dilapidated with a large hole in the roof and the lawn was horribly overgrown. "Home, sweet home." Alice muttered as she followed Ruby around to the back door. The screen door in front of it was hanging off it's rusty hinges and the doorknob was ready to fall off.

Alice sighed carefully opening the door and stepping inside. In front of her was a dark, dirty kitchen with a broken refrigerator, an oven, sink, and several cabinets hanging on the walls. To her right was a tiny white bathroom and to her left were stairs leading into a pitch black basement Alice kicked off her shoes and continued to explore the house. She found a living room with a few torn up chairs and an unstable bookshelf and an office with only a desk, a file cabinet, and a keyboard not hooked up to a computer.

"These people must've left in a hurry to leave all this stuff behind." Alice commented typing a few random keys on the keyboard.

"The house was already falling apart when they left. I found a note that explained everything." Ruby said jumping up onto the desk and lifting the keyboard to show a dirty, wrinkled piece of paper. Alice picked it up and read it out loud.

"Greetings alien lifeform or remnants of humanity, this a letter from the past to say that we were right. Me and my wife spotted the advanced spacecraft blazing across the sky and evacuated to Japan where we can be safe from the aliens. This old house was crap anyways. If we have left anything that is of use to you feel free to use whatever you want. We don't plan on coming back to this hell…The name's cut off but whoever this guy is he's a real nutcase." Alice laughed.

Alice and Ruby shared another laugh before they walked into a dark bedroom with a blank mattress and a night table with an empty alarm clock. Alice tried the lightswitch multiple times but everything stayed dark.

"I haven't been able to get the power on but the plumbing is fine." Ruby said with a suggestive smirk motioning to another bathroom across the hall.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Alice asked with a slight glare.

"Let's just say it'll be better for everyone if you take some time to bathe." Ruby smirked.

Alice would've growled or spat out an insult but the idea of a warm bath was too damn alluring. Ruby scampered into the bedroom and pulled an old shopping bag out from behind the bed. "Here, it's some shampoo and some more clothes." Ruby said dragging and dropping the bag at Alice's feet.

"Heh. you think of everything." Alice smiled giving Ruby a few pets.

"Well I've had a few years to gather supplies and all that. I stocked up on most supplies we'll need for a while." Ruby said before running off down the hall.

Alice took the bag into the bathroom with her and searched through it until she found the shampoo and body wash bottles. She let out a sigh, letting the warm water rush over her hand from the faucet. "It's been so long…"

Alice took her time washing her hair and draining the tub but eventually getting out and wrapping herself up in a soft towel she found on a rack on the door. As she dried and brushed out her hair, which was now a bitch to straighten, she picked through the clothes in the bag before deciding on a light violet tank top and black shorts. She stepped out of the bathroom and walked back into the bedroom, collapsing on the bed.

Ruby heard the thump of Alice hitting the bed and sighed as she looked between a knocked out Alice and the wet bathroom floor with her clothes scattered across it.

"Oh Alice, sometimes I think I really am your mother." she muttered to no one.

…..

Buzz...buzz...buzz...bu-click.

A boy took his hand slowly off the snooze button and released a tired groan, pulling the sheets over his large head. He heard another high pitched beeping sound a few minutes later and hit the clock again but the noise continued.

He finally lifted his head and let his eyes adjust. His vision still blurry, he grabbed his glasses off the second to stretch before investigating the noise. He turned to see the sound was a notification on his computer. "The Swollen Eyeballs!" he gasped.

The Swollen Eyeball Network specialize in paranormal and extraterrestrial sightings and finding the truth to learn from and expose. Most members are considered crazy outcasts in society but they are the only ones that can truly see.

The boy leaped out of his bed, attempting to straighten his jet black scythe-shaped hair, and accepted the call from the network. A hunched over figure covered in shadows with glowing red eyes appeared on the screen and glared at the boy.

"Agent Mothman! Where have you been?!" the shadow growled trying to control himself.

"Huh? What do you mean Agent Darkbooty?" the boy, Mothman, asked.

"I've been trying to contact you for hours! Where were you?"

"Uh...asleep?" Mothman shrugged.

Darkbooty groaned and rubbed his temples. "This is a serious matter Agent Mothman, particularly for you. A dangerous paranormal entity has escaped detainment and may be near your area."

Mothman gasped. "Wow, really? Which one is it? I can catch it and bring it back for you!" He smiled excited, obviously not hearing the 'dangerous' part.

"It's the latest victim of the Soul Shadow. I highly suggest that you should not pursue this one, not on your own."

Mothman's blood went cold as his memory of the creature known as the Soul Shadow filled his mind. It was a demon-like entity, which possessed newborn babies, mostly girls, and it gave the possessed person extraordinary powers, but at a price of course.

"B-but...the Shadow...that's supposedly the most powerful paranormal creature in our world!"

"Exactly. That's why you are not to attempt to capture it. But since there are no other eyeballs in the area you will have to find the one whom the Soul Shadow has taken this time." Darkbooty explained. "I'm sending you the latest picture we could access but keep in mind she has been kept in a government facility for four years and the only picture we could access is when she was young. She'd be closer to your age."

An image of a small girl popped up on screen. Her hair was extremely short, only going halfway past her ears. She looked tired and distressed, almost paranoid. Her eyes were mostly blood red but the edges of her irises were bright blue. They were puffy and streams of tears were flowing down her face. Even though it was a four year old photograph and he had never seen the girl before he could almost hear her cries for help ringing in his ears.

"Alright then, I-I'll let you know if anything comes up." Mothman finally agreed.

"Good, I look forward to your report. Darkbooty out."

The screen turned to static for a second and Mothman looked back to the image of the girl. "A vicious, murderous, possessed girl...and she looks...like that..?" he muttered to himself.

"DIB! Come eat your stupid breakfast! It's time for Skool!" came the threatening voice of Mothman, or Dib's, little sister.

"Coming Gaz!"

…..

Alice opened her eyes to find herself in a different place than she had fallen asleep in. Rather than the large blank bedroom she was on the pavement staring up at the stars. Alice sat up and rubbed her sore back, looking around. This place seemed familiar to her.

She soon heard screaming and a gunshot coming from a house nearby. She walked up to the house while things were quiet an as she went to look in a window the air around her seemed warmer and before she could run the house burst into flames. Alice dived and threw her arms over her face as the heat and light blinded her. She finally was able to crawl away from the flames and stumble to her feet. She turned around and stared in horror at the house as it crumbled and burned.

She looked to her left and saw a little girl with long blonde hair, purple pajamas, and an old, gray, worn out stuffed bunny in her arms staring at the house with a blank expression, her eyes glowing bright red.

Sirens were heard in the distance and the girl and Alice turned to see the fire and police department roaring down the street. Alice turned to run but the young girl caught the back of her shirt. "You don't deserve to run free. You and I can never run. Even if we do it will still follow us until they day you die." and with that the girl flung Alice into the flames.

She screamed in agony as the flames burned and swallowed her. She coughed and tears streamed down her face and amongst the flames she saw a mangled female corpse and the burn body of a man. Alice cried and continued to scream at the pain until she faded into darkness…

"ALICE! WAKE UP!"

Alice bolted up right with a scream and Ruby fell off of Alice's lap and onto the floor with a thud. Alice's heart pounded a mile a minute in her ears as she tried to process where she was. She was still in her new bed, no burn marks on her pale skin, and she could only assume it was some time past 10 o'clock since the window by her showed a dark, empty street outside. Alice took a few heavy breaths and wiped the cold sweat off her forehead and the back of her neck.

"I've been trying to wake you up for five minutes." Ruby said jumping back up on the bed, with a shake. "Another nightmare?"

Alice just nodded wiping her eyes as she fell back on her bed. "They've been getting worse again, Ruby. I-I don't know what to do." Alice cried quietly and shivered.

"We can worry about all this later. You'll be able to think better with plenty of sleep." Ruby calmly smiled pulling the blankets up to Alice's neck with her teeth.

Alice smiled back and nodded in silent agreement. Ruby nuzzled Alice's cheek and laid down next to her, resting her chin and front paws on Alice's arm. Alice pet her softly and her eyes fluttered closed, falling back asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The New Girl**

**AN: Thanks to AlexIZ123, Katie Omnomnom (love the name :D), and Himeno Kazehito for following, favoriting, and reviewing.**

**I GOT A POTATO!**

Alice groaned, holding her stomach tightly as she rolled over. When was the last time she ate?

She opened her eyes and blinked at the sunlight streaming in through the open window. From what Ruby told her today should be Tuesday, September 30th. Good thing she wasn't being forced to go to school.

She was very light-headed and kinda dizzy but she was still able to make her way to the kitchen and grab a granola bar from the fully stocked pantry. She ate a few more various things she could find in there and eventually she had enough energy to get on with her day.

"I see you found the stash."

Alice turned around, with a handful of chips halfway stuffed in her mouth, and saw Ruby sitting on the table,smirking at her. "This should last a few months but it won't be much longer than that if you gorge on it." Alice nodded and swallowed her last bites before putting the food away and wiping the crumbs off of her face.

"Ugg, it's too stuffy in here. I need some fresh air." Alice said as she changed back into her dress, which Ruby had nice enough to wash while she was sleeping.

"Wait, Alice! It's too dangerous to go outside yet!" Ruby yelled, running up and tugging on Alice's socks.

"It's alright, Ruby. I'm just going out for a second."

And with that Alice gave Ruby a small shove and walked outside. She took a deep breath, taking in the outside air as she hopped off the porch, into the overgrown yard. Ruby watched from the doorway as Alice laid down in the grass and let herself relax.

"Come on, Alice. They might be scanning this area right now." Ruby hissed.

"Alright. Alright. I'm coming." Alice muttered. She sat up and got to her feet as a police cruiser pulled up just down the street.

"Hey!" Alice heard a man shout. Acting on impulse she ran, without turning around, towards the door. She almost made it when she was grabbed by the back of her shirt collar.

"Hey what the hell?!" Alice yelled while choking and trying to squirm away from the officer's grasp. He dropped her and held onto her by her arm. He glared at her and turned her head to face him.

"Why aren't you in skool kid?"

"What?" Alice cocked her head, all of her previous fear gone.

"Unless they are sick or horribly injured, every child is required to go to skool, and you look just fine to me."

Alice wrinkled her nose at the officer's pig breath and tried to find a way out of the situation. "I'm...homeschooled?" she shrugged.

"Nice try, smart mouth." the officer said dragging Alice to his car.

Alice turned and saw Ruby frantically trying to catch up to them. "Don't worry Ruby. It's just school. I'll be fine." Alice said telepathically. Ruby stopped and watched Alice get tossed into the car and it drove off down the street.

…..

"Gir! Where are Zim's contacts?!" screamed a small boy, who was searching around his small house.

The boy had green skin and no ears, wearing a pink tunic with black pants, boots, and long gloves. This "boy" was actually not a boy at all, as you would easily guess. This "boy" was in reality an alien. Fully determined to conquer the Earth and please his race, especially his leaders.

The alien known as Zim, straightened his black wig to cover his black, stalky antenna and focused his pupil-less, magenta eyes on a little robot sitting on the floor, with glowing teal blue eyes, who was chewing on a fake human eye with a light violet iris.

"I found it!" the robot giggled pulling the contact out of his mouth.

Zim shuddered and gently picked it up, letting the drool drip off of it. He sent a glare at Gir, his robot assistant, and grabbed the other contact off of an end table. He shoved both of them into his eyes, blinking a few times to get them in place.

He breathed out an annoyed sigh before trudging to the door. "Another filthy Earth day…" Zim muttered to himself with a scowl on his face.

…..

The officer dragged Alice down the filthy hallways of the Skool, which which Alice was still confused about the spelling, and earned many confused stares from the kids walking around and grabbing their things out of their lockers. The officer stopped in front of an open door and shoved Alice harshly inside, slamming the door behind her.

She stumbled a little and held herself up with the teacher's desk. She felt a cold chill race up her spine and looked up to see a dark, snake-like figure growling at her. "So I've got a new student. I'm getting too old for this shit." the figure hissed.

The shadows disappeared from the figure revealing a tall incredibly old woman dressed in all black with thick glasses and white hair, pulled up in a neat bun. "Alright let's get this over with. I am your teacher, Miss Bitters. If you want to introduce yourself to the class make it quick. I'm getting tired of this." Miss Bitters said with venom in her voice.

Alice just squeaked and looked down at her shoes. She was never one for public speaking and she was supposed to stay in the shadows for the moment. Breaking out of facilites doesn't go unnoticed.

She just stood there, her face flushed with embarrassment. After what seemed like hours of awkward silence Miss Bitters finally spoke. "Great. Finally I get a quiet one. You can take Tak's old seat." she said pointing to an empty desk in the second row, next to the window.

Alice was able to give a small nod and quickly ran to her seat. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves but soon heard a few snickers and whispering behind her, causing her to blush again and shrink a little in her seat. To take her mind of it she stared out the window as Miss Bitters began the lesson.

A short time later Alice felt someone staring at her, watching her every move. She didn't acknowledge it. She just laid her head down on her desk and closed her eyes. Dib was watching her while she did this. Constantly turning around and glancing over his shoulder. He had every right to be suspicious. The girl was strangely similar to the Soul Shadow victim through her hair was far too long. Plus every new student that had been some sort of paranormal creature, mainly aliens.

Dib continued to watch her until he got hit in the head with a spitball. Speak of the devil. His focus now off the girl behind him, he growled at Zim who was silently chuckling to himself on the other side of the first row by the door. "Stupid alien…" Dib muttered under his breath while he pulled a tiny water pistol out of his pocket.

Zim's species, known as irkens, are highly allergic to water, meat and other basic human things. It normally would burn their skin and cause them extreme pain, and Dib loved using it to his advantage. He shook it a little, listening to the water slosh around inside the plastic, smirking at the idea of firing it at Zim later. He put the pistol back in his pocket and settled for shooting a spitball at Zim's forehead for now.

Alice hadn't fallen asleep at all but she didn't dare open her eyes, fearing that someone would be right in her face, staring at her. Though the thought only made her want to check. She cracked an eye open to see two boy's in the class in a paper throwing fight, Miss Bitters giving zero fucks what-so-ever. They were very odd though. A big-headed boy fighting another with green skin. And she thought SHE was the odd one in the class.

Eventually the lunch bell rang and interrupted their battle and Alice followed them and the other students to the cafeteria. Alice took one look at the food and decided to pass on lunch. She could've sworn it was staring back at her. Whatever it was.

Scanning the tables she saw there were only two that were more or less empty. One had the large-headed boy along with a young purple haired girl, and the other had the green kid all alone. Alice shrugged and chose the latter sitting down at the very end of the table.

She just sat there and kept to herself, humming a little tune in her head. A few minutes later she felt something poking her arm but ignored it.

"Hey! Hey! Human! Hey! You dare ignore Zim?!"

Alice finally rolled her eyes and turned to see Zim scowling at her.

"What are you doing at Zim's table?!" Zim yelled, spitting on her a little.

Alice wiped it off her face and stood up to put some distance from him. She glared at him which actually made him scoot back a little in fear. She turned away and went towards her second choice.

"I'm telling you Gaz, it looked just like a vampire doughnut!"

"Dib, I'm almost at the final boss in this game so if you make me fuck up I'll make you wish you were never born."

Dib held his hands up defensively and backed up from his little sister, Gaz, who was playing one of her games for her Game Slave 2 portable gaming system.

He backed to the end of the table to give her some space when he bumped into Alice who was just sitting down. She fell off the bench with a small yelp and landed on her face.

"Oh! I-I'm sorry I didn't-" Dib stopped when he turned around and saw the possible demon vessel picking herself up off the ground.

Their eyes met and Alice brushed off her dress before sitting back down on the other side of the the table. "Uh...sorry…" Dib muttered, a bit timidly.

"It's alright."

Dib's head shot up in shock. "Oh! I didn't know you could talk."

"I just keep to myself a lot."

"So what's your name?"

"What's yours?"

"I'm Dib."

"Okay, my uh...my name's...Alice."

"So...I...know this will sound weird but are you...an alien?"

"What?" Alice cocked her head in pure confusion.

"It's just...you see that green kid over there?" Dib asked pointing back to where Alice was previously sitting.

"We've had the pleasure of meeting. Zim, was it?" Alice sighed.

"Yeah, he's an alien."

"He's also already a pain in my ass." Alice muttered, sending him a glare from across the room. Dib snickered and continued.

"Anyway he's been trying to take over the world and destroy us all!"

"Of course." Alice muttered.

"Now I know you think I sound crazy but if just look at him right-"

"Fuck this…" Alice muttered too low for Dib to hear. She stood up and left through the double doors while Dib was still ranting, now to himself.

"-though it looks a little more realistic than normal wigs you can still-ow!" Dib stopped ranting and saw Zim had just hit him with a lunch tray.

He growled at the smirking alien, who was standing victoriously on the table, and tackled him to the ground, forgetting about Alice completely and trying to get the water pistol out of his pocket.

…..

Alice walked across the empty blacktop until she came to a high barb wire fence. She climbed up on it and after making sure no one would see, quickly levitated over the wire. Jumping down into the grass Alice scanned around the area for police cruisers before running down the street in the direction of her house.

She was so busy keeping an eye out she didn't notice the odd dog sitting in the middle of the sidewalk. Alice tripped and hit the pavement, only being able to stare at what she tripped over as she picked herself up.

It was a dog...sort of, it had green fur, black paws and ears, large dilated eyes and a zipper?! Okay this was not a dog. It...whatever it was...just stared at her with it's red tongue falling out of it's mouth. Alice raised an eyebrow and began to walk away when he heard it talk!

"Hi!" it squealed in a high-pitched, electronic voice.

Alice froze and couldn't find the words to reply to it. "Wh...what are you?" Alice asked.

"I'm waiting for my mastah." it said pointing to the school with it's nubby arm.

"O...kay..?" Alice slowly backed up and turned around to run down the street when she felt something catch her leg.

"You're pwetty." the...thing...giggled, hugging her leg. Alice screamed and shot a ball of energy at it.

The explosion knocked Alice back and she stumbled on her feet before falling down. She heard car alarms as the dust from the blast climbed into the sky. She scrambled to her feet and ran down the street without looking back.

**AN: Calm your nipples. Gir is fine.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Thanks to my friend Invader Techno for the review. :) Kind of a short chapter but it'll get veeeerrrrrrryyy interesting soon...ish. Also if you haven't already noticed I made some cover art for the story. It's kinda censored on DA cuz of blood but if you have an account you can see it: **** art/Song-of-a-Tortured-Heart-Fanfiction-Cover-Art-459400120**

**NOW FOR THE STORY PLOTZ!**

**Chapter 4: Plots**

Alice didn't stop running until she got home. Skidding to a halt and just barely avoiding slamming her face into the door, she opened the door and fell onto the cold, tile floor of the kitchen in a sweaty, tired mess. She wasn't that tired since she only lived about two blocks from the school and she had cut across several backyards but she needed a rest.

"Alice!" Ruby ran up to Alice in a mix of joy and panic.

As Alice sat up Ruby jumped into her lap, purring and nuzzling her. Alice wiped the sweat off her forehead and neck as she gently nudged Ruby off of her and stood up.

"I was so damn worried! What did they do to you?! Are you alright?!"

"Ruby, calm down. I'm fine." Alice sighed. "But I guess the only issue is I'm gonna to have to start going to Skool daily now."

"WHAT?! Alice, you can't! Someone could find out!"

"It'll be more suspicious if I don't go. Plus you said yourself that nothing is ever noticed or questioned in this place and I saw myself these people are either crazy or stupid! I'll be fine, Ruby." Alice explained, filling up a plastic cup with tap water.

"Sorry, I just get worried about you, Alice. We only have each other to look after us and I don't even have thumbs!" Ruby said holding up one of her paws.

Alice just sighed and chugged down her water without responding.

"Sorry…" Ruby muttered.

"It was six years ago. Let's just...try to move on. It would only hurt us." Alice shrugged. "Besides I'm starting to get a good feeling about this town."

"I wouldn't trust it for very long. This place gives me the creeps." Ruby sighed.

Alice smirked and splashed the remaining water in the cup in Ruby's face.

"Hey!" Ruby growled, shaking the water out of her fur.

"C'mon, Ruby, lighten up!" Alice giggled, grabbing a washcloth and threw it on her.

"Damnit, Alice. Alright. I'll be optimistic for now." Ruby eventually smiled.

"So what now?"

"I think I saw some yarn in the basement the other day." Alice smirked, turned around and heading for the stairs.

"Hey, wait for me damnit!" Ruby yelled, racing past her down the stairs.

…..

The remainder of the Skool seemed to last an eternity. Maybe because Zim and Dib were just sitting in the nurse's office glaring at each other while their injuries were treated. Their brawl had been one of the most intense they had ever had. They had drawn blood from each other and Zim was still smoking from the water.

Dib's head was still analyzing his brief interaction with Alice earlier. She didn't seem like any possessed killer he knew of but those eyes screamed Soul Shadow. He hadn't seen her use any powers yet so he didn't have any real proof and he didn't have a way to get any since he didn't know where she lived. He'd have to find out. He just hoped he'd be able to confirm his suspicions without dying horribly.

He finally came back to reality and noticed Zim opening the door. "Where do you think you're going Spaceboy?" Dib asked with a glare.

"What does it look like Dib-stink? Zim is leaving." Zim growled, slamming the door behind him before Dib could ask anymore questions.

He walked casually down the quiet, vacant halls and out the front doors to see a small crater in the sidewalk a few feet away from him.

"Hi Mastah!" Gir squealed jumping out of the pit.

His green doggy disguise was torn to shreds and burned in some areas. One of the eyes was falling off and he was covered in dirt.

"Gir! What did you do?!" Zim yelled as Gir ran up and hugged his middle tightly.

"I was waiting for yous! Then this pretty lady blew me up!" Gir cheered, not at all fazed that he had just cheated death.

Zim just sighed, frustrated, and shoved Gir off of him. "Well, fly us back home then. I've had enough of these humans for one day." he growled.

Gir saluted and grabbed Zim as he rocketed into the sky from the blue colored jets in his feet. A scream escaped Zim's throat as he was dragged roughly through the air and Gir laughed, doing several loops and spins for fun.

By the time Gir "landed" (or crashed) into the front lawn of the tiny green house that served as Zim's secret base Zim's throat was very sore and he was ready to puke. Gir face planted the dirt, breaking the wood fence in the process and the force of Gir's crash threw Zim into one of his security lawn gnomes.

He sat up and rubbed the newly formed bruise on his forehead and quickly dragged Gir inside before anyone noticed them.

"Gir, come with me. I want to run a test on your memory chip." Zim ordered, walking towards the elevator that led down into his real base, cleverly disguised as a toilet...in the kitchen.

Inside, Zim hooked a tangled mess of wires into Gir's head to analyze the data he had. Zim fast-forwarded the pointless things Gir always did, like playing with his rubber piggy toys and focused on what Gir had seen while he was in school.

In Gir's point of view he saw the new human dirt baby in his class hover over the fence and walk past Gir with a suspicious look.

"Hi!"

The human turned back with fear in her eyes. "Wh...what are you?" she asked.

"I'm waiting for my mastah."

"O...kay..?" the human raised an eyebrow and started to walk away.

The footage started to shake and move closer to the human. Zim assumed Gir was running towards her. When it stopped shaking Gir had his paws wrapped around the humans leg. He looked up at her shocked face.

"You're pwetty." he giggled.

Zim heard a scream and a blast of energy left the human's hand! There was a deafening explosion and the screen turned to show the sky, with a tower of smoke erupting into it.

Zim stood there, completely still and silent. His jaw dropped and his large bug eyes were even bigger than usual. In all his years on this horrid planet he had never seen that much power. Especially from a young human. He finally snapped out of his shocked trance and disconnected the wires from Gir.

"That power could be the ultimate super weapon against the humans! With something like that not even the Dib-worm could stop me. I just need to...Gir! I have a plan!" Zim announced turning to his minion with an evil grin, soon turning to a light chuckle and growing into a full evil cackle.

…..

'Agent Mothman reporting.

I have possibly located the Soul Shadow victim, Alexis Kent. I have no hard evidence at the moment but as soon as I find proof of her possession I will notify you immediately. I will not attempt to pursue her and will keep my distance. I hope it's her so we can capture her as quickly as possible and keep her from destroying the world.

Until next time, Mothman out.'

Dib read over his newly typed email and sighed. He was absolutely sure that it was her but for whatever reason he felt a twinge of guilt for turning her in. She seemed innocent enough, so it didn't seem likely that it was her, but the Soul Shadow has been known to be very deceptive and Alice's shyness could've just been an act.

Dib let out a frustrated groan and face planted his keyboard. "Maybe I can find something online about her." he muttered to himself.

He tried searching Soul Shadow and but he only got password protected government links. One after another he was kicked out of any websites that might be useful and very soon he was down to just one.

"This is hopeless. I'm not going to find anything. Oh well, I'll get kicked out real quick then go to bed." he sighed, clicking the final link.

This one was different. It was a blog that hasn't been updated in 4 years. Some girl had posted things about it, saying she knew the victim. One said "She knows what I did. I was only trying to survive. I have some power myself but nothing compared to her. I'll be dead within a week. Blown to bits or my limbs slowly torn off, one by one. Truly amazing power. Lexi could bring the world to it's knees…"

Dib gulped and closed the window, a little bit uncomfortable. "Geez…" he muttered, backing away from the monitor slightly.

Then he realized something. He had just accidentally deleted the email to the Eyeballs before he sent it.

"Aw, damnit!" he cursed.

Sighing in defeat, he just shut down his computer and crawled into bed. He could just rewrite it the next day.

It would give him time to get more information on her anyways.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Thank you dasnii for the follow and favorite. :)**

**Chapter 5: I Hate Skool Projects**

Dib, Zim, and Alice all trudged into Skool. All three of them having something big on their minds. Apparently too big to notice where they were going.

"Hey!" Zim and Dib growled at each other as they both tried to fit through the classroom door at the same time.

Alice followed close behind and knocked the boys inside, tripping over them in the process.

"Watch where you're going humans!" Zim growled, looking up to see who had landed on him. He froze when he saw Alice glaring back at him.

She stood up and brushed off her dress before holding her hands out to the two bickering boys who were still on the floor. Zim raised an nonexistent eyebrow and swatted the hand away and Dib hesitantly let her help him up. "Uh...thanks." Dib said, a bit confused.

Zim got off the floor himself and sat down in his seat as the other two walked to their desks. As Alice sat down she heard the other students whispering.

"Did she just help Dib up?"

"Give her a break. She's new. She probably doesn't know yet."

"Someone's gotta tell her soon."

"I heard from Jessica that they were talking in the lunchroom yesterday."

"Maybe she IS crazy. Too bad."

Alice shrunk in her seat more and more with every side conversation she heard before Ms. Bitters slithered into the room and the room grew deathly silent.

"Class, with the skool board's goal to help students get to know each other and reduce loneliness and misery among you. You will be paired up with another student for you next assignment." Ms. Bitters announced with hatred and venom overflowing in her voice as the students let out a collective groan of disappointment. "You will have two weeks to interact with your partner then compose an essay about them. Now because of our new student we no longer have an even number so, Alice!" Alice gulped and looked up at her teacher with her most innocent expression. "You will be put into two different groups and will have to write two different essays." Ms. Bitters hissed.

Alice resisted her urge to growl and curse as she began to pick groups. Dib couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Alice as he half listened for his name to be called.

Soon he started getting worried. His name wasn't being called and Ms. Bitters was running out of students. The problem was Zim's name hadn't been called either. Of course it would be great to try and write a convincing report about Zim being an alien, but there was no way in hell he was working with Zim. That little bug just pisses him off.

Eventually he couldn't think of anyone else left other than Zim and mentally groaned, waiting for the big reveal.

"Alice, you will be working with...Zim and Dib."

Collective shocked expression came across all three of their faces. Zim's turned into a suspicious evil grin. Alice's turned into a weary groan, and Dib just sighed in relief.

At recess Alice sat down on an old wooden bench and tried to think of what story she would use. With assignments like this she would no doubt have to lie. But what would be the most believable?

"Hey, Alice!" She was snapped out of her thoughts by Dib's voice and she looked up to see said big-headed boy running towards her.

"Oh, hi uh...Dib right?" Alice asked.

Dib nodded. "Sorry about earlier. Everyone says that I'm crazy so being around me won't really help your image at this place." Dib said, sitting down next to her.

"It's alright. I never cared what people thought of me anyway." Alice muttered.

"So...since we have to work on that project together I was wondering if you wanna…" DIb was interrupted when Zim shoved him off the bench and took his spot beside Alice.

"You are the Alice-human, yes? Well I am the almighty Zim and it appears we will be working on this "Skool project" together." Zim introduced.

"Oh...yeah. I remember you." Alice said, feeling a bit uncomfortable with how close he was.

"Zim is looking forward to knowing all about you." Zim said in a soft, almost creepy voice.

Dib shoved him off the bench and growled at him.

"There's no way she's falling for your alien plans Zim. Alice is way too smart for that." Dib said, crossing his arms proudly.

"Ha! Like Zim has said before, two against the Armada is no impressive feat Dib-filth." Zim snapped back, turning back to Alice with a fake friendly grin. "The Dib-human's massive head speaks nothing but insane lies. Now you will accompany Zim home after Skool to work on this Skool assignment." Zim ordered.

"My head's not big! Alice, he's trying to trick you. Don't fall for his plans!" Dib almost yelled.

"I am doing no such thing Dib. We are partners in this assignment and I am merely asking for her cooperation."

"Why you little-"

"Guys!" Alice stood up and stepped in between the two boys. "I just want to get this assignment done so I'll switch off between you guys every few days or so. Dib, just so you'll stop freaking out I'll go with you today." Alice sighed. She felt she was looking after a bunch of kindergartners.

"Yes! Jokes on you, Zim!" Dib cheered.

Alice groaned and rolled her eyes as the bell rang and everyone ran inside. The boys left, exchanging glares and cocky smirks and Alice followed behind them.

After Skool Alice sat on the front steps of the Skool waiting for Dib to walk out. While she was waiting a young girl came out. She looked about eleven or twelve, with purple hair and pale skin. She wore a black dress similar to her's with long purple sleeves, gray tights, black shoes, and a skull necklace.

The girl stood next to Alice, only glancing at her once through her squinted eyelids. A minute later Dib rushed out and stopped in front of the girls. "Oh, there you guys are. Alice, this is my little sister Gaz." Dib introduced. Alice gave a small wave and Gaz returned with a small, uninterested nod.

Alice stood up and followed the two down the sidewalk. She noticed Zim staring at her out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and looked back at him with an uneasy feeling growing in her stomach and a small amount of heat rising in her cheeks.

"Alice? You coming?" Alice snapped back to reality and saw Dib calling to her fromt the street corner. She blushed a little more and nodded, running to catch up with Dib and Gaz before they crossed the street.

They mostly walked in silence until they reached Dib and Gaz's home. Dib swung open the door and held open for the girls.

"Wow, what a gentlemen." Gaz muttered sarcastically.

Alice frowned a little at Gaz's cruel personality and sat down on the couch as she disappeared upstairs. "Is she always like that?" Alice asked as Dib sat down next to her.

"Yeah, but she's not that bad. So why don't you tell me about yourself." He said pulling a notepad out of his backpack.

"Well...uh…" Alice stuttered a little trying to think of something to say. "Since I have twice the work to do why don't you start." she finally said.

"Oh, well I do tend to ramble a lot."

"That's alright. It gives me more to work with." Alice smiled.

"Alright, you win. Let's see...well my dad's a famous scientist, the most famous in the world actually. Uh...I like hunting paranormal entities, well not really like, it's really a way of life for me, trying to hunt down aliens and ghosts and stuff." Dib rambled.

"Have you ever been successful?" Alice asked.

"Well uh...no. Not exactly." Dib said, embarrassed. "But I'm really close this time! I've been working on my latest plan to capture Zim, you know, since he's an alien and all. I was thinking of trying to sneak into his secret base and get him with a tranquilizer dart."

"Dib."

"And then hopefully I can get him to my dad's lab before wakes up-"

"Dib."

"And when he does wake up I'll do so many HORRIBLE experiments on him he'll look so mutilated no one will be able to recognize him as a living being!"

"DIB!"

Dib shrunk a little in fear at Alice's outburst and felt blush creeping onto his face. "S-sorry. I tried to warn you." he smirked.

Alice sighed and reluctantly smiled back. "I'm sorry but I think we'll need to reschedule." she said, standing up.

"What? Why?"

"I forgot to tell Ruby that I was going over here after Skool. She'll be worried sick."

"Ruby?"

"My uh…little sister! She always gets worried if I'm not home before her so I gotta run." Alice stared making her way to the door.

"Wait! Can't I just go with you and we can keep going at your house?" Dib questioned.

"Sorry, I can't. Bye!"

Before Dib could catch her Alice bolted out the door and down the street. She didn't stop running until she knew for sure Dib wasn't following her. She stopped to catch her breath a few minutes later when it hit her. She had no idea where she was.

…...

Ruby paced the house, frantic and stressed. She tossed the idea of going out to look for her around in her head so much it was starting to hurt. She eventually collapsed on the living room carpet with a frustrated sighed and found herself tearing up a little. She was almost ready to go out and find her when she heard the back door open. Her head shot up and she dashed to the door, slipping on the kitchen floor and crashing into the fridge.

"Ruby! You okay?" she looked up and ran to Alice who was on her knees with open arms. Alice sighed in relief and cuddled her best friend as she jumped into her arms.

"Alice, where the hell were you?! I was so damn worried!" Ruby cried.

"I'm just glad you didn't kill yourself over me being gone for an hour." Alice smirked, cradling Ruby as she walked into her room.

"What happened, Alice? You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"It's some Skool project. Learning about our classmates or something." Alice said, laying down and pulling the blankets over her head.

"Alice! Don't treat this like a normal kid! This is dangerous!"

"Relax, I'm coming up with a little story to tell them. It'll be fine. Why are so worked up anyways?" Alice asked.

Ruby sulked. "It's just...it's my first time doing this. Taking care of you and all, and I just don't want anything to happen to you. I've been on my own for four years and I don't wanna be alone again!" Ruby said, tears streaming down her face.

Alice just sighed and hugged her. "You won't be alone. I promise."

…...

Heavy rain poured down on the dark, quiet streets as people who had been caught in it rushed to find shelter. Ruby looked out at the rushing water from under a small, house-like fort of cardboard boxes next to a set of gritty apartments.

She peeled her eyes away from the rain and looked down and the the gray kitten next to her. He shivered from the cold damp air and nuzzled closer to Ruby. Ruby sighed and wrapped her arm around him just before a shadow covered them.

Ruby looked up and saw a white cat with sparkling blue eyes. She was covered in dirt but her fur still seemed to glow in the streetlights. She nuzzled Ruby and the kitten next to her before laying down beside them. The young kitten opened his eyes with a quiet, adorable sneeze and his face brightened at the sight of her.

"Mommy!" the young kitten jumped to his feet and scampered over to her.

"Rusty, Ruby, it's good to see you. I'm glad you're both alright." their mother sighed, letting her kittens nuzzle her.

"I was so worried, mom. I thought you might not come back. I don't want me and Rusty to be alone!" Ruby cried.

"You'll never be alone, Ruby. You may outlive me but you'll have your brother and Lexi for a much longer time." her mother soothed.

"Lexi?"

"She'll be joining us again soon."

**AN: Dawwwwwwwwwww. In case you're confused that last part was a flashback to Ruby's family about 5 years before the present time. It's explained later but for now I don't want you guys to be confused. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: More Awkwardness**

**AN: Thank you april7000222 for reviewing!**

Alice stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed her things off the kitchen table. "Ruby, I'm going to skool now! I'll be late coming home again!" she called, turning towards the door.

She didn't get a response.

"Ruby?"

Alice walked back into her room and saw Ruby curled up in between the two pillows.

"Hey, I'm leaving now, okay?"

Ruby turned her head towards her and simply nodded.

"Something wrong?"

"It's nothing. Memories and all. You have fun at skool." Ruby said with a light smile.

Alice nodded and gave Ruby a small pet before she walked out the door.

The two of them had been like this before. Memories coming back to them from their past lives and not putting them in the best mood. They were supportive of each other but also knew that the other could handle themselves if given some time.

Alice ran down the street in a surprisingly happy mood. Maybe it was because for once she was more or less fitting in.

"HUMAN!"

She skidded to a halt and turned around to see Zim running up to her. "Oh, hey Zim. What's up?"

He tilted his head in a confused and squinted one of his eyes. Alice actually found it kind of cute. She felt blush on her cheeks as she dismissed the thought.

"So, Alice-human you are joining Zim today for this project, yes?"

"Well I didn't get to work with Dib much so I think I might be able to come over during the weekend." Alice explained.

"Stupid Dib-pig." Zim growled under his breath. "You WILL come with Zim today!" he ordered, reaching out for her wrist.

She was able to back away before he grabbed her and eyed his sudden change in his tone. "Well, someone's snappy." Alice muttered, continuing on her way.

"Zim is merely trying to warn you Alice-human." Zim said, grabbing her shoulder and turning.

"Warn me?"

"Yes, you heard correctly. The Dib-worm is crazy, if you haven't already noticed. You can't be sure what he will do." Zim said, sounding cold and ominous.

He shoved Alice out of the way and continued walking to Skool. Alice just stood there, trying to process the information she was given.

"...what he'll do..?" Alice repeated to herself.

She turned to follow Zim to Skool and saw a clock in someone's front window. It read 7:55.

"Crap I'm gonna be late!" Alice yelped, turning on her heel and dashing off.

…..

Zim trudged into the classroom with about a minute before the bell rang. He was confused and frustrated with that Alice-human.

How dare she decline meeting with Zim to spend time with the Dib-pig?! Dib. That was it. He must've gotten to her with his alien ranting and gained her trust before he even got a chance. He had to of known of her power and is trying to keep him from being able to use her for his plan!

Zim growled and glared at Dib who was staring out the window and tapping his fingers on his desk. He stomped over to him and grabbed his collar, snapping him back to reality. "Don't think I'm not on to you Dib. You will not foil Zim's plan this time!"

Dib pushed his nemesis away and glared back. "Ha! You think I won't stop you? I've done it a million times before and I'll do again. I won't stop until you're exposed!" Dib said, standing up on his desk, though he had no idea what plan Zim was talking about. He just liked making Zim paranoid that he did know.

"Just try to stop me you little-"

"Zim! Dib! Sit down!" Miss Bitters hissed.

The boys gave a quite squeak of fear and sat down in less than a second.

A few seconds later Zim's antenna twitched under his wig as he heard loud, fast footsteps running down the hall. He heard panting in front of the door and then Alice calmly walked through the door calmly with sweat running down her face.

"You're late, Alice." Miss Bitters snarled.

"I'm aware of that." Alice muttered, panting as she walked to her seat.

At lunch Alice sat down with Dib and Gaz at their table, now claiming it as her usual spot.

"So you told your sister you were coming over today right?" Dib asked with a smile.

"Oh! Yeah, I did. I'll be able to stay until dinner." Alice said, mentally cursing that she didn't have any more excuses.

She sighed and poked at whatever kind of substance was on her lunch tray and without paying attention put it in her mouth.

"Uh...I wouldn't do that if I were you." Dib said.

Alice finally realized what she had just done "HOLY-"

Every student and staff member in the lunch room cringed and the words that erupted from Alice's mouth.

After a trip to the nurses office the day went on until FINALLY with a sigh of relief Alice heard the beautiful sound of the final bell.

Dib and Alice walked out together, a bit awkwardly since neither of them had much to say.

"So...are you feeling okay?" Dib asked.

Alice just shrugged. "I've been better but for now my organs aren't melting." she smirked. "Does that normally happen?"

"Yeah sorry I didn't tell you." Dib rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's fine. I'm sure I'll be okay."

"Alright."

When Dib and Alice walked into the door Gaz was already sitting on the couch, her fingers rapidly pushing the buttons on her Game Slave 2.

"We should probably talk upstairs." Dib said to Alice as he crossed the room and headed up the stairs. Alice was about to question why but then saw a dark glare from Gaz and quickly followed Dib.

There was a sense of awkwardness in the air as Alice stepped into Dib's room and sat down on his bed across from him.

"So uh...why don't you tell me about your family?" Dib said, grabbing a notebook out of his backpack.

"Well...um…" Alice stuttered. "You already told me you had a sister so what's she like?"

"Uh? Oh, Ruby. Well she is really nice but she does tend to joke around a lot. She really looks up to me since I'm really the oldest person she knows anymore." Alice said.

"What about your parents?"

Alice looked up at him and sighed, not saying a word. "What's wrong?" Alice blinked back tears and could barely speak. "I...I don't have my parents anymore."

Dib froze. "Oh! I-I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"That because I didn't tell you. It's not your fault." Alice said, attempting to smile.

"So you two are alone?"

"Basically. We have our aunt paying the bills and everything but she's never around. I just wake up every day and find money for food on the table." Of she was making that up but she couldn't explain she was a runaway. He could turn her into the police.

"I know how you must feel." Dib said.

"My dad works non-stop. He's rarely ever home much less has time to be with me and Gaz. He's like a stranger to us. And my mom…" Dib felt water in his eyes. "...she died when Gaz was a baby. I barely even knew her."

"Maybe it's best if you didn't." Alice muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Let's just...try to focus on the assignment."

…..

"So after all that she STILL thought it wasn't my real head. She just thought it was fake and my normal sized head was in my shirt! Is this head THAT big?!" Dib ranted.

Alice giggled and grabbed a ruler off Dib's desk. "Hmm...It isn't as big as everyone keeps saying…" she smirked.

"Really?!" Dib beamed.

"It's still bigger than normal of course."

Dib sighed and face-planted on the desk. "Well at least you put it nicely." he muttered.

Alice giggled again and looked at the alarm clock on Dib's bedside table. "Oh crap! I was supposed to be home an hour ago!" Alice yelped. Dib was about to respond when they heard something outside Dib's window. "Huh? How did that cat get all the way up here?"

Sure enough Ruby was pawing at the window, staring at Alice. She nodded towards the door and then left. "Well I better get going. See ya tomorrow!" Alice called, running downstairs and out the door. "Uh...bye." Dib muttered. "Agent Mothman?" Dib looked up and saw Darkbooty on his computer screen. "Why have you not reported your finding on the Soul Shadow yet?" "Oh! I was just about to send it in." "Well hurry up and send it! It's going to take long enough to get a team out there to retrieve her so we need that information ASAP!"

Dib gulped and nodded before shutting off the transmission. "Ugh...I have to stay focused. Alice may acted normal but she's an evil, possessed murderer. I'm going to have to start getting more information out of her..."

…..

"So how did you find me?" Alice asked.

"I'm like a bloodhound with you. Plus I was watching you leave after Skool." Ruby smiled.

"You were stalking me?!"

"Oh, relax. On another topic who was that boy you were talking to?" Ruby smirked.

"He-he's just some guy I have to work on a project with! That's it!" Alice blushed.

"Heh, alright. Just don't get carried away." Ruby laughed.

"Oh, shut up you!"

…..

"Lexi sweetie! Time to go!"

Alexis looked over at her closed bedroom, where the voice had come from. She quickly pulled on her white long sleeve shirt with pink striped sleeves and straightened her jean skirt. "I'm coming Mommy!" she yelled, grabbing her black backpack with glow in the dark stars and ran out of her room.

Hopping down the stairs, she was greeted by a tall beautiful woman with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. "C'mon sweetie. Don't wanna be late for the first day." she smiled, handing Lexi her lunch as they made their way to the car.

During the car ride to school Lexi kept playing with her hair and looking at herself in her reflection in the window.

"Lexi? Something wrong?" her mom asked as they pulled up at the school.

"I don't know. Something doesn't look right." Lexi shrugged.

Her mom frowned and thought for a second. She untied her hair and put Lexi's hair up, adjusting her red music note hair clip.

"You always look prettier with a ponytail." she smiled.

"Thanks mom!" Lexi smiled, opening the car door and skipping towards the school.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Thank you OptimusPrimegirl213 for following, favoriting and leaving a review on this story and my other stories as well. I really appreciate it. Also sorry to everyone reading Stuff Happens. I promise I'm not abandoning the story. These chapters just take less time to write and I've been getting a lot of ideas for this one.**

**Chapter 7: Plans Begin**

Zim stood up and took the protective goggles off his head as he backed up to admire his latest project. He wiped the sweat off his brow with an evil smirk on his face. "You see this Gir?" he asked turning to the robot who was rolling around and laughing on the floor.

Zim growled, irritated, and stormed over to Gir and slapped him. "Gir! Pay attention!" he ordered.

Gir stood up and saluted, his eyes flashing red for a split second.

"Good. Now this device you see before you will help us understand the chemical structure of the Alice-creature who attacked you several days ago." Zim said gesturing to the large tube shaped device covering in wires and several monitors. "But to keep our identities a secret we'll have to gain the dirt child's trust." Zim said adding a bit disgust to his voice. "This is NOT going to be easy Gir."

"Daww! I get it!" Gir squealed.

"What?"

"You're gonna ask the pretty lady out on a date!" Gir giggled, poking Zim's cheek.

"I-GIR! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" Zim yelled, roughly shoving Gir off his face.

"Don't you like her?" Gir asked, tilting his head adorably.

"I don't know where your insane mind goes when I talk to you but that human monster is a pawn in my scheme! NOTHING MORE! Besides, why would I be so idiotic and so...defective to fall for a stupid, smelly human? Or...whatever she is."

"But she's so pretty!" Gir squealed.

Zim groaned and put on his disguise grumbling to himself.

"Master." his house computer called.

"WHAT?!"

"Jeez, I just wanted say you're going to be late. Ungrateful jerk."

Zim cocked his head and turned to a small clock on the wall.

"IRK-DAMMIT!"

….

"DIB!" Gaz called from downstairs.

Dib jumped at his little sister's voice and hurriedly continued to shove equipment into his Skool bag.

When she didn't hear a response Gaz growled and stormed up to his room, kicking the door in. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"I'm just packing up my spy gear for after Skool. I'll be down in a minute." Dib explained, shoving another camera into his bag.

"You're spying on Zim again?" Gaz rolled her eyes.

"No! Well...I guess I will be but that's not the point! Alice is up to something and I need to figure out what." Dib said, zipping up his bag.

"So we've gone from stalker to pervert. How nice."

"G-Gaz! I'm not being a pervert!" Dib blushed.

"Yeah, okay. Just don't come back with her underwear." Gaz said leaving the room.

"H-hey! Wait up!" Dib called, running out of the house.

…..

"So it's a different boy today?" Ruby asked looking up from her food bowl.

"Yeah I have two assignments to do with two different partners. So I'm gonna check in with the other guy today and over the weekend."

"What's his name?"

"Zim."

"Is he nice?"

"That isn't exactly the word I'd use."

"Is he smart?"

"Meh. It's hard to tell. He seems smart but I heard one time he called a muffin a 'pork cow' or something. Then again I might do the same thing with the food they serve at that place." Alice shrugged taking a sip of her water.

"Is he cute?"

Alice covered her mouth to keep from spitting out her water all over her half eaten breakfast. "Well?" Ruby said jumping up on the table. Alice swallowed her water and turned away from her feline companion to hide the blush on her cheeks.

"Well...he's got this gross skin condition and he looks really weird but...he kinda like a dirty stray dog. He's filthy, beat up, a little mean and you don't really feel sorry for him but he still has a fluffy face and large beady eyes that makes you wanna hug him."

"HA! You admit it! You do have a crush!" Ruby laughed, triumphantly.

"I never said I liked him! He's a total jackass." Alice growled.

"Oh, come on! You say he's cute but you don't like him? I'm calling bullshit on that."

"Like I said, he's not cute like a boyfriend or anything. He's cute like a pet at best."

"But you still think he's cute."

Alice sighed, frustrated, and got up. "Whatever. I'm going to Skool."

"Try to find out if he already has a girlfriend!" Ruby called with a snicker as Alice left the house.

"Piss off!"

…..

"...and that's why we are all destined to survive on the flesh of our friends and family."

Alice sighed and rolled her eyes as she laid her head down on her desk. She looked up at Dib and across the room at Zim. They both seemed to be bursting with impatience to get out of the death trap the three of them were confined to for the remaining 3 hours of the Skool day.

Her eyes shifted between the two boys and she eventually lifted her head up and hesitantly tapped Dib's shoulder. "Hey, can I borrow some paper?" she whispered.

Dib smiled and ripped a page out of his notebook. He slid his hand under her desk and handed the white sheet to her, undetected by Ms. Bitters. Alice nodded in thanks and and started drawing on it with her pencil.

Then everything seemed to go black.

…..

"You're quite the little sketcher, Alexis. I've never seen a child your age with such talent." the white cat complimented while looking over Lexi's latest sketch.

"Thanks Scarlet. But I don't think I'm that good." Alexis blushed taking the notepad back.

"Nonsense! You have a real talent, whether you realize and accept it or not." Scarlett smiled, hooking the strap of a dark green bag around her neck.

"Could you look over the kittens from me again? I hate to have to give you so much responsibility over them but I need to looking for food and I can't leave them alone." she asked, turning back to her.

"Why don't I go looking for food? That way you can stay here and take care of them." Alexis asked, standing up.

"I know it might be easier for both of us but if you get caught by someone they could call the police. I don't want that to happen to you, Dear. You're part of the family now." Scarlet said jumping up on the back wall of the enclosed apartment complex.

"And this family doesn't let any of it's members get taken away."

…

Alice's head shot up as the final Skool bell rang and students hopped up from their desks with joy.

"Did I fall asleep?" Alice asked herself.

She looked down at the sheet of paper on her desk to see her unfinished drawing of girl playing with her cat. She sighed and picked it up but taking a second glance at it she saw more. The light shining through the paper revealed something had been drawn on the back of the page. She took one of her hands off the paper and saw her fingers were stained a shiny silver from the pencil lead. Her curiosity sadly getting the best of her, she flipped the paper over and gasped in horror.

The image was dark and harshly scribbled on the page. It was a creature with long sharp claws and a terrifying smile, accompanied by a pair of hollow, evil eyes staring right back at her. She moved her thumbs and saw a sentence written very rushed and almost unreadable underneath the image along with the number 813 written neatly in the corner.

tHE tiME Is DRaWiNG nEAr.

As Alice stared at the words something grabbed the paper out of her hands and pulled on her arm. She let out a small scream and saw Zim holding onto her with an irritated look on his green face.

"Come, Alice-human." he said, dragging Alice out of the room.

When they got to the hallway Alice lightly shoved him off her arm and followed his lead. They weaved through the mass of moving students and eventually got out the door and on their way to Zim's house. Or so Alice thought.

"So what are we doing at the park?" Alice asked, sitting down next to Zim on a bench.

"Zim does not fully trust you to see the amazing house of Zim quite yet." Zim explained.

"I see. And what must I do to obtain this trust?" Alice asked in a mocking tone.

Zim shot her a glare and sat back on the bench. "You have been conversing with the Dib-stink, yes?"

Alice nodded.

"And he has told you of his ridiculous alien accusations?"

Nod.

"So…" Zim leaned in close to her. "Do you believe him?" he asked softly.

Alice felt her cheeks heating up. "W-well...he may not be wrong but he doesn't seem to be very mentally stable." She said, attempting to back up.

Zim pulled away from her and back into his original position. "Alright then. Let us begin the assignment." he said as if he hadn't acting like a complete creep a few seconds earlier. "Uh...okay."

The next few hours consisted of nothing more than awkward questioning and jotting down notes.

"Hey, do you know the time?" Alice asked.

"Of course! Why?" Zim cocked his head.

"Just like a dog." Alice thought with a smile.

"Could you tell me what it is?" Alice asked, with a giggle.

"Oh, um...5:47." Zim said, after a minute of thought.

"Okay, thanks." Alice said, standing up and rubbing her sore back.

"Where are you going?" Zim glared at her.

"I need to get home. But thanks for telling me everything I wanted to know." Alice smiled. "So is anytime tomorrow good for you?"

Zim pondered the question for a bit. "Meet Zim back here at 2 o'clock tomorrow." he said, standing up and taking a few steps in the opposite direction. "Don't be late." he warned, turning to her one more time.

Alice nodded and ran off down the path.

…

Dib stepped out of the Skool bathroom in his stealth suit and hid behind a set of lockers as Zim and Alice ran past him without seeing him.

Dib followed them at a distance, ducking behind bushes and garbage cans as they walked together in silence with the occasional awkward small talk. Dib stopped at the entrance to the park and hid in one of the trees. He didn't want to risk getting caught. If Zim tried anything he'd no doubt hear it.

Hours past and as the sun was just starting to set Alice stepped out of the park. Dib sighed to himself that she was unharmed. He slowly made his way out of the tree. Halfway down his foot slipped and he lost his grip, falling into the bushes.

Alice jumped back and built up a small ball of energy behind her back as she cautiously walked up to the rustling bush.

"Hey, Alice." Dib said rubbing a bruise on his head.

"D-Dib?!" The energy broke apart in her hand and she went to help Dib up. "Can anyone just walk by and say 'hey' in this place? You scared the shit out of me!" she asked.

Dib snickered and brushed himself off. "Sorry."

"What are you wearing?" she asked.

"Oh, this is nothing. I'm just...uh…"

"Trying to be a ninja?" Alice smirked.

"Yeah, I guess." Dib rubbed the back of neck, embarrassed.

"Well, good luck with...whatever it is you're doing. You weren't spying on my though, right?" Alice gave him a suspicious glance.

"N-no! Of course not!" Alice nodded.

"Good. I thought I was going to have to put a security system on my bras or something." she laughed.

Dib stuttered and blushed but was able to give a light smile.

"Alright, well, I gotta get going. I'll see you around, Dib." Alice said, turning away with a small wave.

Dib shyly waved back and sighed, thinking in the back of his head that he had planned on following her. He sat down against a tree and sighed, weighing his options.

"Alice trusts me right now. If I try to follow her now she'll never forgive me. She'd probably kill me. If I give it some time it'll be easier to her to overlook if she catches me. Yeah, that's what I'll do." Dib nodded to himself as he stood up and started his walk home.


End file.
